MART Vol. II MO/MP - NESA - Civil Air Patrol

Fly between any two pointsThe ability to fly directly between any two points greatly improves searcheffectiveness. These points, usually defined by latitude and longitude(lat/long), can be flown in either of two ways:• The points can be entered into the GPS as user-defined waypoints. Thewaypoints can then be recalled in the same manner as you would displayan airport or navaid, or they can be entered into a flight plan.• The pilot can fly between the points by observing the current lat/longdisplay (i.e., a real-time readout of latitude and longitude).Two factors have reduced search effectiveness in the past: drifting off coursedue to shifts in wind direction, and drifting off course because of the lack ofadequate boundaries (e.g., cross-radials or visible landmarks). Now any searchpattern can be flown precisely without relying on cross-radials or groundreferences. The crew and the mission staff know that a route or area has beencovered thoroughly. Also, GPS allows the crew to remain within assignedboundaries, which greatly improves safety when more than one aircraft is in thesearch area at the same time.Obviously, the GPS also allows the aircrew to easily and accurately determinetheir current position and to determine the position of ground sightings. The GPSwill display your current position as lat/long coordinates (most accurate), or youcan determine distance and heading to airports, VORs or user waypoints and plotyour position accordingly.The Apollo GX55 has a "moving map," which greatly enhances situationalawareness. It shows aeronautical and ground features in (scalable) detail, andalso displays special use airspace. Another feature, added to the unit for CAPuse, is the SAR MAP mode. This feature allows you to select, define and flydirectly to a CAP grid, and to superimpose a search pattern on the grid (e.g.,parallel, creeping line or expanding square). See Chapter 8 and Attachment 2.5.6 Sectional ChartsThe most important tool you will use in both mission flight planning andexecution is the chart. Although the earth is spherical, not flat, cartographers canportray small portions of the earth's surface as though it is a flat surface, withoutaffecting accurate navigation. Visual air navigation charts must have certain basicfeatures including:• Navigational reference system superimposed over the terrain depiction.• Identifiable, measurable scale to measure distances.• Detailed graphic depiction of terrain and culture, or man-made features.Highway road maps are usually not acceptable for air navigation, since mostdon't have detailed terrain depiction and also lack the superimposed referencesystem. Many aeronautical charts have such small scales that the makers areunable to show required levels of detail when trying to put a large area into asmall chart space. The most useful chart that has been widely accepted forvisual, low-altitude navigation is the sectional aeronautical chart, sometimessimply referred to as the "sectional".Sectionals use a scale of one to five hundred thousand, or 1:500,000, whereall features are shown 1/500,000 of their actual size (1 inch = 6.86 nm). This83